Hopelessly
by scormalfoys
Summary: Rose Weasley has never had much fondness for loudness. She prefers to sit in a comfortable chair and read or count her chocolate frog cards. So it is because of this that she sees irony in that fact that she meets Scorpius Malfoy at a party and he becomes the one person who makes the noise a whole lot more bearable.
1. Chocolate Frogs and Butterbeers

A/N: This story is also published on Archive of Our Own at /works/2045451/chapters/4441965.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything relating to Harry Potter. I only own the plot of this story and my original characters.

* * *

She was used to feeling as though someone had drawn a curtain over her. The rest of her family was loud, dramatic. Not Rose. She much preferred the quiet of the library or the soft feeling of sitting on her closed-off bed. It wasn't that she didn't like people, Rose didn't much mind people, she just didn't like the commotion. It was something her mother, at least, seemed to half understand.

Today, Rose was sitting on her bed, her hair tied up in one of her spare Ravenclaw ties, and leaning over a book. The sunlight attempted to filter and play on her face but the thick curtains pushed most of it away. A hand stuck through the parting of the curtains surrounding her bed then, "Rosie?" the hand waved, "Rose, can I come in?"

There were really only two people Rose communicated with on a daily basis. The one who belonged to the hand currently waving at her was Piper Clearwater. "Yeah," Rose said, "come on in."

Piper climbed in and onto the bed, looking around, "I like the new pillows," she said. Rose had placed an undetectable extension charm on her bed last year, their fourth year, and had been in a constant state of "redecorating" since then.

Rose looked up from her book and glanced at the pillows as if only just realizing they were there, "Oh, thanks," she wrinkled her nose, "I think they'd look better in a lighter blue though, no?"

Piper shrugged, "I suppose," she gestured to Rose's book, "What are you reading today?"

Rose picked up the book and showed the cover, "It's called Storming Fall, it's a muggle love story."

Piper groaned, "Rosie, why don't you go find real romance instead of reading muggle romances. Wizarding romance is so much more exciting, don't you think? How are you even getting these muggle books anyway?"

"Okay, one," Rose started, holding up a finger, "I'm pretty sure you know nothing about wizarding romance considering your only boyfriend was a muggle. Two," she popped up another finger, "Flourish & Blotts picks them up from a muggle bookstore and they owl them to me."

Piper threw up her hands, "Fine, you caught me, I know nothing of wizarding romance but it seems exciting. I, for one, want to have a relationship this year, don't you?"

Rose shrugged, "I guess, maybe."

Piper beamed at her, "Great, now hopefully I can convince you to come to a party tonight?" She rushed on when she saw Rose raise her eyebrows, "You don't even have to go far, it's in our common room."

"Piper…" Rose said, her voice leaked doubtfulness.

"Please, Rosie? If you hate it, you can come right back up here. Though I recommend a muffliato charm if you're up in your bed because I'm pretty sure I heard Gemma say she wants to get Will Acker up here tonight," Piper rambled.

"Fine," Rose held up a hand to silence her, "I'll check it out," Piper started to smile, "but I am going dressed however I want."

"Yeah, okay, maybe I can pick out an outfit for you next time?" Piper asked hopefully.

Rose smiled slightly, it was Piper's dream to 'bring style to the wizarding world', as she put it, "Keep wishing."

Piper leaned across the magically large bed and wrapped her arms around Rose, "You're the best. Really, you are."

Rose smiled into Piper's shoulder, "I know."

When Piper let go she started moving out of Rose's bed, "Okay, the party starts at 19:00 which I know is only an hour away but don't flip, it's still enough time to change or read another chapter or whatever."

Rose tossed a pillow at Piper, "You're the worst," she said, grinning.

"We both know that's not true," called Piper's sing-song voice as she finally ducked out of the bed.

Rose sighed, a piece of her hair floating up from her breath. She knew how the party would go, she would get bored, have no one to talk to, and eventually retreat up here. At least she'd get a free butterbeer out of it, she supposed.

Rose climbed out of her bed, spotting Piper tugging on a yellow sundress, and turned to her own trunk. She threw it open and rummaged inside. She settled on a pair of jeans and a dark blue long-sleeve shirt. Rose tugged her school shirt off and then put on the blue shirt and then did the same with her skirt, replacing it with the jeans.

As she turned she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror and paused. Rose would like to be able to say she was plain looking but really she wasn't. Her burning red hair curled towards every direction and her eyes were such a shocking blue that they made her hair seem even more ridiculously vibrant. Sometimes she didn't mind how she looked but other times, like now, she simply looked too bright.

Sighing to herself, she tugged her tie from her hair and looked around for a regular ponytail holder. Not seeing one, Rose decided to just shove her hair back into a ponytail with her tie. It had barely been back up for a minute and already pieces were wriggling out of the tie. Giving up on her hair, she tucked the strands behind her ears and hoped they'd stay.

She glanced at the small watch on her wrist, 18:32. Deciding that was enough time for another chapter or two, Rose climbed back into her bed and flipped open her book. She didn't like to tell anyone but sometimes, when the book was really good, she got rather jealous of the muggles. So happy, so in love, so simple. There were days she wished she were studying sciences and English, two subjects Hogwarts didn't bother with. After far too many books to count, she still couldn't get over how odd things were in the muggle world. They wrote with sticks filled with something called graphite. They had pink rectangles that made words disappear. In her opinion, some parts of muggle life seemed really rather magical.

After quite a few page turns she glanced at her watch again, 18:57. Rose folded the corner of the page and closed the book, setting it on the table beside her bed. She climbed through the curtains to enter an empty dormitory and the sound of music, now unrestrained by her muffliato charm. With quiet reluctance she slipped on her trainers and made her way downstairs.

The common room was far more full than usual, people spilling over the plush couches and chairs. Non-Ravenclaws explored the different facets of the common room and Rose dearly hoped they wouldn't mess with the private library. Music rang from the bust of Rowena Ravenclaw, a stupid enchantment someone must have cast. A table in the corner held sweets and bottles of beer, crowded by people trying to grab a drink. Rose settled on getting a butterbeer from the table so she pushed through the people, managing to snatch a bottle and a chocolate frog. She shoved the chocolate frog box in her pocket and quickly moved away from the throngs of people.

Open beer in hand, she walked towards the entrance the Ravenclaw's private library, simply hoping to check all the books were still organized. The library was empty. Nearly. A Hufflepuff boy stood in the corner, only a book in his hand, and he looked up when she entered.

"Hello," he said, smiling.

"Hi," Rose replied. She felt like she'd seen him before, possibly they'd had classes together? She wasn't sure.

"I was just seeing what books you lot have," his voice was gentle and quiet, "I didn't know Ravenclaw had a private library."

Rose nodded, "It's quite a bit smaller than the school's library but it's nice to have around. Plus we've got a muggle book section." She didn't mention almost all the muggle books had been contributed by her.

He raised an eyebrow, "Really? That's neat, where is it?"

Rose pointed towards a shelf and watched him close his book and move over there, "I didn't catch your name," she said to his back.

"I didn't give you it," he said, turning to smile at her. Despite the snappy remark, his smile felt kind. A few moments passed, him looking at the books while Rose waited to see if he would speak again. He did. "It's Scorpius, by the way. My name, that is." Scorpius did not turn away from the books.

She was glad he didn't, she didn't want him to see the surprise on her face. So she did know him, vaguely, from King's Cross before their first year. She hadn't known he'd been sorted into Hufflepuff.

"I'm Rose," she said.

She saw the back of his head nod, "I know," he whispered, so quiet she almost thought she'd imagined it. Scorpius turned around and looked at her, "Why aren't you outside, at the party?"

Rose shrugged, "I don't much like parties. My friend, Piper, convinced me to come."

"If you don't like parties, why did you come?" he asked.

"I like Piper," Rose said simply, "She's a good friend."

"I don't like parties either," Scorpius said, almost as an afterthought.

"Then why are you here?" Rose asked.

"I don't really know, something to do, I suppose?" he said.

Rose took a final sip of her beer and considered Scorpius, "Do you want a butterbeer? I'm going to get another"

He smiled at her, "Sure, thanks."

Rose left the library, her eyes searching the crowd, she wasn't sure for whom. Outside of the quieted library, everything seemed like the volume had been turned all the way up, the noise was positively obnoxious. She snatched two beers off the table and, after a thought, shoved two more chocolate frogs in her pocket.

She was halfway across the room when she noticed Piper. Piper was sat on one of the couches, other people surrounding her, all of their legs overlapping. She seemed to be telling some grand story, everyone else laughing at appropriate moments. Rose rolled her eyes and silently wished Piper good luck at finding her romance. When she re-entered the library, Scorpius was sat on the floor, a book propped in his crossed legs.

He looked up at her and smiled when she handed him the beer, "Thank you," he said.

"No problem, what are you reading?" she asked, sitting on the floor across from him.

Scorpius held up the cover, "Sleeping Beauty. Odd, isn't it? How muggles are so opposed to the belief of magic yet they tell their children stories of it."

Rose nodded excitedly, "Oh I think of that all the time! Did you know they have these things that look like notebooks except they can search the whole world inside the notebook? And it's not even magic!"

Scorpius blinked disbelievingly, "Really? That's incredible, what else have they got?"

"They purposefully put gnomes in their gardens, isn't that mental? They think they're good luck or something of that sort," Rose accio'd a muggle book from the shelf and opened it between them, "This book has all sorts of images and descriptions of how they see the world. They call it an encyclopedia."

Scorpius stared in wonder the book in front of him before tentatively reaching forward and flipping through the pages, "This is unbelievable," he muttered to himself. He stopped on a page showing a vehicle called a 'moped'. "What on earth is this?"

Rose leaned over to look at the page, the top of her head brushing his, "It looks like a motorcycle," she said.

Scorpius nodded, "That's the thing that brought your uncle to the Dursley family, right?"

"Yeah," Rose said, "That's it."

Scorpius flipped the pages a bit more, "Look at this, is this that notebook you were talking of? It's called a netbook here."

Rose nodded, "Yeah, that's it, see how strange it looks?"

He looked up at her and nodded and Rose looked up to meet his eyes, their noses an inch apart. "It's really quite stunning," he said, his voice a soft hum in the quiet air.

"Yeah," she whispered, "It is."

Scorpius stared at her a bit more, his eyes flicking to her lips occasionally.

"I like your tie," he said, "in your hair."

She reached up to touch it, "Thanks," she mumbled before her eyes flitted across his face, pausing when they stared at his lips.

The door to the library swung open and they both were startled away from each other, blushing.

"Rosie, you did come!" Alice Longbottom said as she swung into the room.

Rose nodded, "Yeah, er, yeah I did."

"Piper said you were but you haven't been to a party in absolutely ages so I-," she paused as if just noticing Scorpius, "Who are you?"

"Scorpius," he said.

Alice smiled kindly, "I'm Alice, it's good to meet you. I'm sorry for interrupting, I'll be going now." She swept out of the door and back into the common room.

"Er, that was Alice," Rose said, fighting the urge to run out and tell Alice she hadn't interrupted anything.

"She seems nice," Scorpius said with a faint smile.

"Yeah, she is," Rose said, unsure what to say now, "I collect chocolate frog cards," slipped from her mouth.

Scorpius' smile grew, "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, I've got half of them all set up on my wall upstairs, the other half is at home," Rose said, her face lighting up.

"How many have you got in total?" Scorpius asked her.

"About seven-hundred," Rose said proudly.

"Holy hell, that's a lot of chocolate," Scorpius laughed.

She shrugged, "About three-hundred are from my dad's collection, he gave me his duplicates, and the rest are from myself or family or friends."

"Still," he said, "That's a lot to have up on a wall. How do you manage to fit so many on the Hogwarts dorm walls?"

"Oh, well, I used an undetectable extension charm on my bed last year so it's more a bedroom than a bed now," Rose said.

"That's completely brilliant," he said.

"Thank you," Rose said, a tiny smile perched on her lips.

"How long have you been collecting?" Scorpius asked, taking a sip of his beer.

"About since when I was nine."

"Wow," Scorpius said, "I can only imagine how wicked your collection must be."

"Why imagine? I can show you," Rose said, standing up.

"Really?" Scorpius asked in wonder, standing up as well.

"Sure, I don't see why not. Plus, it's much more comfortable on my bed than on the library floor," Rose said before realizing how it sounded and blushing, "I mean, for sitting, it's more comfortable to sit on a bed. Nevermind. Here, follow me." She pushed open the door and they walked outside into the noise.


	2. Broomsticks and Constellations

Rose tugged his hand through the crowd, weaving amongst grinding couples and whispering friends. She really hoped everyone was drinking because she didn't want someone to remember seeing her run upstairs with a boy. A boy with blonde hair and silver eyes who made her feel a little bit floaty.

"There are so many stairs, this is unbelievable," Scorpius said, his voice ringing loud over the noise.

Rose turned around to face him and laughed, "Of course there's stairs, we're in a tower."

He smiled up at her and her heart beat a tiny bit quicker, "Hufflepuff common room is in the cellars, our dormitories are through tunnels, I'm not used to so many stairs."

"Oh, c'mon, Scorpius, they're just stairs," Rose said and his own heart ran a little faster when she said his name.

"Also, it's rather cold in here, is that normal?" he asked as they continued up the winding stairs.

Rose nodded, "Yeah but it's warmer in the dormitories, don't worry. It just gets a little chilly around here sometimes."

"Hufflepuff common room is always at perfect warmth," Scorpius said, "it's cosy."

"I've never been to Hufflepuff common room," Rose remarked.

"You'll have to check it out sometime then. We don't host many parties, despite the kindness reputation we have, a lot of us prefer the quiet of being on our own in our common room," Scorpius said and Rose noticed despite the fact they had exited the common room, he hadn't let go of her hand, "Luckily for you, we're having a back-to-school party next weekend. You're invited, if you'd like to check it out." His voice had gone quiet, slightly nervous.

She turned around to face him, stopping on the staircase, "I'd love to check it out," she responded, smiling.

Scorpius returned her smile, "Now," he said, "please tell me we're done with stairs."

Rose giggled lightly, "Yes, we are done with the stairs. It's this door here," she said, turning the knob on a door titled 'Fifth Years'.

They were met with an obnoxious smacking noise coming from a closed-off bed in the corner. Rose blushed and turned to Scorpius, "That would be my roommate, Gemma."

He nodded vaguely, his cheeks a faint pink, "Uh-huh."

"Don't worry," she assured him, "my bed has muffliato on it so we don't hear all of that."

Rose led him to her bed, and pulled back the curtains, leading him inside by their still clasped hands.

"Wow," Scorpius breathed, taking in the sight before him. It didn't even feel correct to call it Rose's bed, it was more like Rose's room. The actual bed, expanded to be queen-sized, was set in the corner with a multitude of Ravenclaw coloured pillows scattered about it. A desk sat at the foot of her bed with a small chair tucked into it. To the right of her bed was a small bookcase filled with, upon further inspection, a selection of muggle novels and wizard novels. The canopy over the bed even reached up so you could walk around inside. And bloody hell, the canopy was coated in twinkling stars that looked so real he almost thought they were. It was honestly brilliant, he thought to himself.

"Did you do the stars?" he asks her.

"Yeah, the common room ceiling is full of stars so I decided to put some in my bed as well," Rose is smiling, gazing up at her stars, and he can't help but wish he could make her smile all the time.

"Over here," Rose said, leading him towards the wall her bed was against, "are my favourite cards. The other ones are in a box."

Scorpius scanned the wall, noticing cards he had, such as Albus Dumbledore and Harry Potter, and cards he had never seen before. "You've got Cornelius Agrippa? That's amazing, I've never seen his card before, they're so rare."

Rose smiled proudly, "My dad went absolutely mental when he saw me get it, he'd been trying for it since he was a kid. I was eight at the time and he tried to convince me it wasn't as valuable as a Kingsley Shacklebolt card and that he'd trade me, since he's such a good parent. Mum caught him though and made him give it back."

Scorpius laughed, "Good on her for making him give it back, I'd be so angry if my dad tried to take Cornelius Agrippa from me."

"What's your dad like?" Rose asked before she could stop herself.

Scorpius froze and she felt his grip on her hand tighten.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked," Rose tried to amend.

Scorpius loosened his hold on her hand, dropping it, and sat on her bed, "No, no, it's a completely normal question. I just wasn't expecting it, sorry."

Rose sat beside him, "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." Her hand felt uncomfortably empty without him holding it.

"No harm in it," Scorpius shrugged, "He's alright. He's my dad and he's pretty good at it," Scorpius chuckled to himself before looking up from the floor to meet Rose's eyes, "We don't live at Malfoy Manor anymore, if you were wondering," he noted Rose's slight surprise and nodded as if to confirm what he'd said, "My dad met my mum not long after the war, three years later, I think it was. So, when he met her, he finally decided to say 'screw you' to his parents and he left with my mum.

"We leave in a pretty normal house. Three bedrooms; my parents, a guest room, and my room. It's pretty basic but I think that's how my dad needs it to be or he'd get sucked back into to the reality of having money. I'm not saying my mum changed my dad because I guess people don't really change but she brings out what's good about him. I don't think he'd survive without her, to be honest. Sorry, I'm rambling."

"It's okay," Rose said, smiling.

He doesn't say it outloud because he thinks it might sound odd but he thinks the only reason he said all of that to Rose is because he feels like he knows her. Scorpius isn't blind, he reads the _Prophet_ which always has an article on the Potters and the Weasleys. He remembers when they wrote about Rose losing her first tooth and Rose out shopping for school supplies with her mum. He never thought he'd actually be speaking with her though and he's too embarrassed to tell her he's read about her his whole life. Not in a strange way, just because it was in the paper. Still, he thinks it might be odd.

Rose scooted over to the side of her bed closest to the wall and lays down with a sigh, her hands clasped over her stomach, "The stars on the canopy correlate with the actual stars outside. You can look for constellations if you lie down."

Scorpius moved to lie down next to her, feeling slightly sheepish about it for reasons he isn't sure he could explain if someone asked. "There's the Big Dipper," he said, pointing.

"That one is Lyra, I think," Rose said, pointing to the one above both of their heads.

"Did you know," Scorpius started before he could stop himself, "That Lyra was the harp that Orpheus played love songs to Eurydice on. They say the sound of the love songs was so beautiful that all the people and animals would stop just to listen."

"I didn't know," Rose said, staring at the starry harp that hung over her bed.

Scorpius shrugged, "My dad has a lot of books about Greek myths, they really fascinate him. Me as well, I suppose."

"That's neat, my dad mostly just reads about quidditch," Rose said.

"Ah, quidditch. Hufflepuff is going to pummel you lot next week, by the way," Scorpius said nonchalantly.

Rose propped herself up on her hand to lean over him, "What happened to Hufflepuff's being kind?" she exclaimed.

Scorpius rested upon his elbow, looking into her eyes, "Not when it comes to quidditch."

"Ravenclaw is going to do fantastic, in case you were wondering," Rose said, "We've just had our first practice today and let me just say, if you think you guys are getting the snitch from me you have another thing coming."

"Oh but Rose, didn't you hear?" Scorpius said, his voice hinting at mockery, "I'm the Hufflepuff seeker and I really do plan on beating you to the snitch."

Rose rolled her eyes at him, "I bet I could get it faster than you anytime."

"Anytime?" Scorpius said, sitting up even farther, their eyes level now, "How about tonight, Rose? Could you still manage to catch the snitch first right now?"

"I wholeheartedly accept that challenge," Rose said before jumping off the bed and running out of the dorm.

"I was mostly kidding," Scorpius said to himself, a slight bit stunned Rose was really off to the quidditch pitch at nine o'clock. He rolled off the bed and chased after her, weaving through the people still dancing in the blue common room. His feet slapped against the stone floors as he rushed to the pitch, really hoping he'd left a jumper in the changing rooms and regretting his decision to wear just a t-shirt tonight.

When he rushed onto the pitch Rose was already there, broom in hand. "What took you so long?" she asked jokingly.

Scorpius pretended to glare at her, "One moment, I'm going to see if I've got a jumper in here," he hesitated, "Are you okay in just that shirt? I might have an extra jumper in here if you haven't got one."

"That'd be really nice but please don't tell anyone I wore Hufflepuff colours on the quidditch pitch," Rose said, grinning.

"No promises," he said simply before disappearing into the changing rooms. Scorpius wasn't really sure how they'd gone from bumbling strangers in a library to whatever this was but he _was_ sure that he liked this.

When he emerged he was holding two jumpers and his broomstick, "Here," he said, tossing one to Rose, "You can have the one with huge yellow and black stripes," he said, grinning at her, "I'll wear the plain gray one."

"Oh well, I suppose these colours will just have to do for now," she said, smiling at him, "Have you got a snitch?"

"Yeah, right here," Scorpius said, pulling the one he'd grabbed in the changing rooms from his pocket. Rose nodded and he followed her onto the pitch.

"Toss it up," Rose said, throwing a leg over her broom.

Scorpius tossed the golden sphere into the air and they watched it buzz around their heads before zipping off into the darkened sky. "On your count," he said, grinning at her.

"Three… Two… One… Go!" Rose exclaimed before soaring into the cold air, feeling the wind bite at her cheeks. She climbed higher and higher into the air, Scorpius just near her.

Scorpius was looking around like mad, willing his mind to differentiate between the stars and the snitch. There. A flutter of gold. He sped off on his broom as fast as he could, Rose on his heels. He flattened himself around the broom, clutching it tight to his chest and hoping it would just get there _quicker_.

Rose dived under him before pulling her broom up in front of him, grinning to herself. It was so close, mere meters away, glittering against the blue depths of night.

Scorpius pulled his broom around to the side of Rose, right beside her. She glanced at him and regretted it immediately, he swerved around in front of her, stretching out a hand. Wishing she still had a chance, Rose flew up beside him, reaching her hand out as well. She grabbed at it then, her hand closing around the cold metal. Scorpius' hand closed around her hand.

She looked over at him, their hands overlapping as they hovered beside each other. His face was flushed from the wind hitting him and he was breathing heavier than normal. It hit Rose then, how much she actually wanted to just _kiss him_. She'd thought about kissing people for awhile, she really wanted to kiss someone but she'd never found an opportunity. Now it felt like the world was serving her an opportunity on a silver platter. Scorpius' lips were ten small centimeters away from her own and _Merlin_, she completely did want to kiss him. But bloody hell, Rose was terrified, she didn't even know how to kiss someone. What if she screwed it up?

"Rose," Scorpius whispered, glancing at her lips. And then he was leaning in and Rose's mind did small flips of excited panic.

"Hey!" shouted a rough voice, "Get down from there! It's gone past nine and you ought to be in your common room!"

Rose squeezed her eyes shut, the world had just stolen her silver platter back.


	3. Announcement (will delete this later)

p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"I'd just like to apologize for my absence. I'm at school from 8-3 and then crew from 3:30-6 and then eating dinner from 6:30-7 and then homework till around 11. That all being said, it's really hard for me to find time to write. I'd like to get some writing done this weekend but I'm not sure how much time I'll have (maybe a chapter? possibly two?)./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"I just wanted to let you all know I am definitely not abandoning this story as I'm really excited to write it. Fall season of crew ends late November so hopefully I'll be able to get some writing done then and around the winter holiday./p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Thank you for sticking with me! xx/p 


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